It's looking more and more like the Euro was actually a fundamentally bad idea.

It has little to do with countries agreeing with eachother and a lot to do with the fact that it turns out that one currency does seriously not mesh well with vastly different economic policies.

We've come to the fucking bizarre situation where one side pretty much has to be screwed. Greece and all the other suffering countries could get over this easily if not for the Euro. fuck collective will, monetary policy pretty much gets split because going either way screws over the other side.

Greece badly needs inflation of their currency. But Northern Europe really really doesn't want that because it would seriously hurt them. Like, we went for austerity because any other solution would be really bad. Austerity! We have to go for the worst possible solution to a crisis because all the other solutions are unpossible!

Actually I think Euro is a pretty good idea. Remember the days when inflation was 2 digits?, € stopped that; the days when exchange went up and down faster than Yorick' knickers? (think oil); € stopped that.

Yes some, if not most, countries tried to play "Brussel" as the scapegoat for each of their respective policies' failing when it suited them, and some , if not most, tried their own way to abuse the system and get away with it. Greece being the very best example when it used a private bank to creatively present their own economy so they could pass EU's monetary standards.

Unless a real economist, which I'm not, can step in and say that line of thought leads nowhere, there is something to consider: I do think that most of the current debt ridden countries (so called pigs) are written in euro. Assuming they leave the zone, whatever currency they go back to again will get to face a double whammy, as their currency will plunge against € and they won't have enough funds to hold on their own. Double the debt, and half the monetary power...

It seems quite odd to me to seriously think that a group of countries can just decide to share something as huge as a currency and not have to share some political power.

But yes, austerity now is the worst possible cure._________________我的氣墊船裝滿了鱔魚

It's looking more and more like the Euro was actually a fundamentally bad idea.

It has little to do with countries agreeing with eachother and a lot to do with the fact that it turns out that one currency does seriously not mesh well with vastly different economic policies.

We've come to the fucking bizarre situation where one side pretty much has to be screwed. Greece and all the other suffering countries could get over this easily if not for the Euro. fuck collective will, monetary policy pretty much gets split because going either way screws over the other side.

Greece badly needs inflation of their currency. But Northern Europe really really doesn't want that because it would seriously hurt them. Like, we went for austerity because any other solution would be really bad. Austerity! We have to go for the worst possible solution to a crisis because all the other solutions are unpossible!

Actually I think Euro is a pretty good idea. Remember the days when inflation was 2 digits?, € stopped that; the days when exchange went up and down faster than Yorick' knickers? (think oil); € stopped that.

The fact that it stopped that is actually the problem.

The economies of Europe were too different and the countries too disagreeable to work on that problem._________________

The economies of Europe were too different and the countries too disagreeable to work on that problem.

I've read a couple of minutes ago, that merkel and sarkozy are planning on creating a common economics "government" for the eu. Don't know if it will come, don't know if it will be of any use, but it might be..._________________Auf, Matrosen, die Anker gelichtet,
Segel gespannt, den Kompaß gerichtet.

The economies of Europe were too different and the countries too disagreeable to work on that problem.

True, up to some point, and spot on true.

If any of the prior crisis were any gauge, they won't start working together until they have their back against the wall, and a bayonetted rifle up the sitting part.

We'll reach that point this Fall.

As for the latest Franco-German meeting, it smells way too much of the incumbent French election to appear honest; hence my view matters will not start to be serious until EU's session reopen._________________我的氣墊船裝滿了鱔魚

The canadian dollar has been above the US dollar for months now, though not by a lot. That'll change again once the US dollar gets itself sorted out.

As to the baked beans, I haven't any clue about that. What kind are they? Maybe I'll have to give them a try...

Just Bush's I think. I hardly ever eat baked beans, so I was totally confused by the enormous empty shelves. Target had put out a special display and everything, but even that was gone.

As for the dollars still being pretty close, it's very possible something similar is happening now and I'm just noticing it less because I no longer work at the front desk of a hotel and hear them talk about it all the time. I do know there's been loads of Canadian plates around town, so it wouldn't even surprise me.

LD!: Hah! I didn't expect someone else to have been close enough to the boarder to experience it, too. That's kind of funny, we're so far away from each other but the effect is still the same.